THE queues “chaos” caused by the new traffic lights system in the centre of Holmfirth has come under increasing attack from residents and visitors.
The new scheme, introduced earlier this year, has seen increasing tailbacks at the junction of Victoria Street and Huddersfield Road.
Now there are increasing calls for the system to be scrapped completely.
One local man, who wishes to remain anonymous and wants to be referred to only as Holmfirth Cauf, has written to the Express & Chronicle, outlining his concerns.
He writes: “It is clear that the re-scheduling of the traffic lights at the top of Victoria Street in Holmfirth has been a huge mistake.
“Regular congestion has been created, with traffic queues stretching from Victoria Street up Parkhead Road and along Woodhead Road, up Dunford Road and New Mill Road and down Huddersfield Road to the ‘Tech’.
“Such queues were unknown under the old traffic lights system – although one would hesitate to suggest that on the one recent occasion when the lights failed, the traffic flow seemed much improved.
“As part of the traffic light re-scheduling, Kirklees Highways narrowed the Victoria Street/Huddersfield Road junction by extending the kerb out into the road outside Charlesworths, and protected this projection with a low tank-proof, cast-iron bollard – which only lasted a few weeks before being destroyed, presumably by one of the regular massive, 12-wheeler trucks which cannot otherwise turn that corner.
“The Kirklees Highways’ experiments have failed (unless of course their intention was to create congestion – and I fear that this cannot be entirely ruled out), but will our elected representatives now ensure that things are put back as they were?
“If not, why not?
“Do our councillors perhaps need a form of referendum on this issue before they feel able to issue instructions to the Kirklees bureaucracy?”
A Kirklees traffic signal engineer said that the system was being constantly monitored and priorities could be tweaked to improve traffic flow as the system “beds in”.
